|
Isbara lost the equilibrium under the hard conditions and he dismissed the commanders having high ranks whom he thought as
being dependent to Ta-lo-pien. Consequently, some of those soldiers and princes obliged to want help from China. Isbara who
brought fear and hatred around himself, understood regretfully that he lost lots from his strength, thus he personally asked
the king of Sui for peace.
Accepted the offer with pleasure and sent immediately envoys to him; C'ang Sun-seng was the leader of the envoys. In the
capital, this Chinese, in front of the lady and the other Turkish notables, insulted Isbara and he returned to his country
after he announced the khan who recognized himself as being "the son of Emperor of China", as "Ç'en" (slave).
The eastern kingdom was under the Chinese control. Isbara wrote in the year of 585 a letter to the emperor, "I will depend
on you, pay taxes to you, give you precious horses as gifts. But, I won't change the language, I can't resemble our undulated
hairs to yours, I can't order my people to wear the Chinese clothes, I can't obey the Chinese traditions. There is no way,
because my people are very sensitive to those issues, they are like a hart that beats together. The Sui Emperor is the only
sovereign in the world. There should not be two kings in the earth such as there are no two suns in the sky, etc."
THE NEVER-ENDING TRICKS OF THE CHINESE
Isbara (587) died in the confusion as the Gok-Turks Kingdom dissolved, the dependent tribes revolted, the Turks began
to take refuge in China and the family members of the Turkish khan started to quarrel. Even when his brother Ye-hu and later
on Tülan (588-600), who had been announced as khan by the parliament, took his place, the situation did not get better. The
famous Ç'ang Sun-seng prepared rapports, showing the ways how to collapse the Gok-Turks Kingdom, presented them to the Emperor,
and in Ötüken, from where came as an envoy, he tried to agitate members of the Turkish dynasty against each other with various
intrigues.
His biggest assistant had been Ts'ien-kien, the Chinese princess, who first had been the wife of Ta-po than Isbara and
later on after the death of Tülan (600) the wife of K'i-min (600-609), who became king with the consent of China. K'i-min,
this time, was being used against Tardu, who was trying to control the Eastern Kingdom. K'i-min, in a letter had written to
the Emperor Yang-ti, that "he had been a powerless slave of the majestic protector" and that he himself was "ready
to make the Turkish tribe", whom even Isbara formerly denied "like the Chinese".
THE PERIOD OF KHAN SI-PI: THE REFRESHMENT OF THE HONOUR OF GOK-TURKS (609-619)
However, after his death, Si-pi (Shih-pi), his son and his successor, could save the Gok-Turks' honour. Although he married
a Chinese princess, he used this issue as a fake in order to prevent the interventions of China in the internal affairs. He
annihilated the disorder in the lands of Eastern Kingdom in 5-6 years, and he began to control from Tibet in the west, to
the River of Amor in the east (615). The emperor that became anxious for the development of the events, began to apply again
the unchangeable Chinese plans of bringing conflicts into the Turkish family members of the kingdom: This time, his advisor
was P'ei-chu, the envoy who prepared the special trick rapports and whom books written for the west recognized as being the
main sources.
The little brother of the khan, Ç'I-ki-sad, was proposed to be the "khan". However, this young man who knew
the wretchedness of the people and the corruptions of the Chinese oppression, refused this offer together with the Chinese
princess promised to him. The Chinese people tried another way: they trapped one of the Turkish commander and killed him,
and informed the khan as they found appropriate to remove him because of t"he friendship they had toward the Turks",
saying that he was referred to them wishing the opposition. The aim was to spoil the relationship between the Khan Si-pi and
the leaders of Gok-Turks. But, the khan did not believe this fake too. He did not pay the yearly taxes and prepared for the
war asserting that the last event had been damaged the Chinese-Turkish agreement.
His plan was to catch with a sudden attack the emperor who was on a journey to the north provinces. But the information
of the attack reached secretly to China to the emperor by Chinese princess, the wife of those three khans mentioned before,
who was in Ötüken. The emperor tried to return quickly but he was surrounded in the city of San-si Yenmen (today's Tai-hien)
by the Gok-Turks cavalrymen who followed him. The same princess helped Emperor Yang-ti who cried for his despair, as being
told so: she proved to recede of the Turkish armies with the rumour of the rebellion in the Gok-Turks country (615).
THE SUCCESSFUL CHINESE POLITICS OF SI-PI
The last situation of Yang-ti resulted in disorders in China and the number of the opponents to him increased. This time
it was witnessed to the dependency of the Chinese nobles to the Gok-Turks and Khan Si-pi was repeating the Chinese tactics
against them. Si-pi gave a flag with a had of wolf to the refugee Liang Shi-tu (617) by announcing him as "the Eastern
Chinese Khan" since he offered the precious objects plundered from the Chinese Palace to the Gok-Turks' Khan. Si-pi announced
another commander named as Liu Wu-chou, as "Western Chinese Khan", and sent him for the mobilization of war against
Suis.
Between all of these, the most important historical thing was that he protected one of the Chinese general governors,
Li-yuan, and he supported him so that Li-yuan, according to the agreement, after he removed the Suis from the power of the
government with the help of the Turks, offered the empire's wealth in the Ch'ang-an to the khan and promised to give 30 thousands
of silk and to pay yearly taxes. Then, he established the famous Family of T'ang (618-906) which had the sovereignty about
300 years in China and he announced himself as Kao-tsu as the emperor.
THE PERIOD OF KIE-LI: THE BEGINNING OF THE CHINESE SOVEREIGNTY (621-630)
After Si-pi, his brother Ç'u-lo (619-621) who became the khan, followed the hard politics of his brother, and he was determined
to strengthen the Sui Family against the Emperor of T'ang who had changed his conduct towards the Kingdom. But he was poisoned
and killed by his wife I-ç'ing, the Chinese princess. His brother, Kie-li (621-630) who was not an adequate person became
the khan. He married the traitor princess I-ç'ing, and he provoked the emperor with the stinging letters he wrote to him.
He was under the influence of his wife.
He was defeated in a few military attacks since being based merely on courage they were deprived of planning and program.
People lost confidence because of his conduct. The Sir-Tardus, Bayirkus, and Uygurs rebelled (627). Lots of Chinese who were
previously under Turkish protection were returning to their countries apologizing the Chinese Emperor of T'ang; Ki-tans and
other tribes were searching ways to establish contacts with China, and they were uniting China at the border regions. The
emperor Tai-tsung (627-649) was waiting for the deterioration of the situation to strike the Turks. The khan was captured
while he was withdrawing after the defeat of a city he was surrounding, and he was sent to the Chinese capital under protection
(630).
CHINESE SLAVERY AND ATTEMPTS FOR INDEPENDENCE: THE GREAT HERO KURSHAT (630-680)
The year of 630 in which Tai-tsung announced himself as "the Gök (Sky)-Khan of the Turks" is accepted as the
end of the Eastern Kök Turks' independence. The tribes linked to the kingdom and foreign communities were disintegrating and
since there was nobody around the Kök Turks' princes to offer help everybody was looking for his own solution, the Turks were
taking refuge in China. Although the khans from the Asina Family followed each others, they were like puppets at the service
of the Chinese Palace, they were going to visits of fidelity, giving presents and having different titles from the emperor.
The tragic condition of the Kök Turks can be understood from the arguments done in the Chinese Palace in front of the emperor
about what can be done against the Turks. Finally, "6 providences" in Northern China, along the Great Wall were
determined for the settlement of the Turks.
In this manner, it was hoped that the Turks could become Chinese. In the 50 years until 680, the Turkish people did not
forget its identity, it protected its language, habits and traditions, and lived in the spirit the glorious memories of history.
Meanwhile, there were minor rebellions. For example, the attempt of a prince from the Asina family to restore the Turkish
Kingdom in the Altays (646-649), Tu-çi, from the family of Kök Turks' khans and the commander of On-Oks, was announced to
be the "khan" (676-678) and he made agreement with the people of Tibet against China... The most surprising actions
among the ones that were severely suppressed by the Chinese was Kür-shad's attempt for rebellion in 639.
www.ozturkler.com
|
